Lane Kiffin and the LSU Tigers are at the center of a legal crossfire in the NCAA eligibility debate, directly pitted against the SEC. As the clock runs down on Kiffin to finalize a roster for the upcoming college football season, including decisions on two prominent NFL returnees vying for a fifth year of eligibility, ESPN journalist Rece Davis has clearly highlighted the “absurd” part of this controversy.

Many have disagreed with the idea of bringing NFL players back to college football, including the Power Four Conferences, all of which have issued explicit bans on such moves. However, Rece Davis delivered a blunt reality check with the opposing argument: college players are also grown men getting paid millions and no different than an NFL rookie.

“Nobody needs to be saying that ‘They went pro, they can’t come back’. That is a ridiculous assertion to make when guys (in college) are making seven figures,” Davis said in an interview clip shared by reporter Chris Gordy on X.

When top-tier college players are pulling in seven-figure deals, while anonymous offensive linemen can easily make six figures, the myth of amateurism is completely dead. David argued that these athletes are being paid like professionals because, in many ways, they are professionals.

Davis also rejected the characterization of college players being treated as “children,” arguing that it was an attempt to gain sympathy.

“The other absurd thing that happened was whoever the guy was in court yesterday that said these children—they’re not children; they’re men, they’re grown men. You know, stop that. You know, that’s just trying to play on people’s sympathies and their attachment to the old ways. It’s like you know, no, they’re not. They’re grown men. Let’s treat everybody as such,” Davis said.

Davis believes the sport’s leadership needs to sit down and establish clear roster qualifications and stipulations. He shared an example from a particular minor league baseball. Even if a player has made it all the way to the major leagues, they can still return and play under strict veteran limits.

If college football can establish unified, legally binding parameters similar to that model, it could go a long way toward solving this tomfoolery.

Right now, people are up in arms over the idea of players returning from NFL training camps to play on Saturdays. Truth be told, plenty of traditionalists simply don’t like the feel of it. But if you step back and ask yourself exactly why you are against it, putting your finger on a concrete reason becomes incredibly difficult.

The only honest path from here is to negotiate real roster parameters, enforceable player contracts, clear buyout clauses, and other necessary permits to make the system work.

However, the stakes for LSU if it defies the conference deadline and chooses to roster these former NFL players are catastrophic, to say the least.

According to SEC rules, violating the professional sports policy could result in a 50% season suspension for head coach Lane Kiffin, the forfeiture of 50% of the football program’s operating budget, and the complete revocation of the school’s SEC voting privileges. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey has also given the conference the power to enforce the rules.

On the other side of the argument, a local judge’s injunction on Thursday night specifically barred LSU from taking action that would prevent the return of two NFL players, Zxavian Harris and Dae’Quan Wright. Leaving them off the roster could therefore immediately put the school in contempt of court.

Many of these returning athletes may actually make more money in college through NIL than they ever would on an NFL practice squad. And while Davis is clearly glad that players are finally getting paid, the league’s brutal penalties demonstrate that college football is officially at war with itself.